Online resource center to help you explore these key issues, and others, regarding your estate.

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Mr. Miller has many years of experience in designing and implementing a comprehensive variety of Trusts, Wills, and other estate planning documents, as well as settling estates in the most expedient and appropriate method. Further, he counsels and assists clients on becoming eligible for VA benefits and Medi-Cal.

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VA Pension/Aid & Attendance/Medi-Cal

Mr. Miller has been active in the area of VA Pension and Medi-Cal for well over a decade. He uses various specialized types of Trusts as well as non-trust strategies to gain eligibility for his clients and save the family money.

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Probate & Estate Administration

Mr. Miller has been settling estates (both simple and complex) for well over 40 years. The starting point is always to create a strategy to settle the estate in the most efficient manner possible with a minimum of taxes. Often times the strategy created allows the family to bypass Probate Court proceedings.

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Inheritance Lawsuits: Avoid Them at All Costs!


By merv,

  Filed under: Blog, Uncategorized

Justice can be an expensive thing. It is the process of presenting evidence in Court and having the court decide in your favor, i.e. receiving a court judgment.  A court judgment is a public acknowledgment that you are right and the other side is wrong.  This then usually results in your receiving a just reward against the other side, typically in the form of money damages.

Most people would agree that the best thing to do with a lawsuit is to avoid it.. And the best way to avoid a potential inheritance dispute for your loved ones is by planning appropriately and making sure everything is up to date in the form of a properly executed will or living trust.  Take a look at my Frequently Asked Questions page for more on this.

Now, don’t get me wrong, proper estate planning isn’t necessarily going to prevent every possible inheritance lawsuit imaginable.  But it does go a long way in making sure you define what you own, who is to receive what you own, how they are to receive it and when they are to receive it . I like to say that that will take care of half the problem.  The other half is keeping it up to date.  Periodically having it reviewed tends to take care of the second half.

Those who ignore this concept are really courting disaster for their family.  Keep in mind that an issue with the concept of justice is it can oftentimes be very expensive. Will you receive more from the lawsuit financially than you put into it?  For example, if you spend $25,000 on a lawsuit, you want to receive a lot more than $25,000 out of that suit to compensate you for your risk.  Justice pays no attention to the financial costs of a case. If a person wants justice they must be willing to spend as much time, emotion and money as necessary to achieve that result, which can often be an unfair result from a financial viewpoint. And don’t forget, just because a case goes to trial does not mean that you will win.  There’s always two sides (or more) to every story and event.  That’s one of the risks of fighting for justice, you could lose not just money but all the time, energy and effort spent throughout the process.  Bottom line, try to avoid the lawsuit in the first place.

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About Living Trusts

About Living Trusts is hosted by the Law Offices of Merwyn J. Miller, as your online resource center to help you explore these key issues, and others, regarding your estate.

Merwyn J. Miller, J.D.

  • Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law
  • Co-Author of legal text book and of “Don’t Go Broke in a Nursing Home
  • Teacher of law courses at public and private colleges
  • Continuing Education Instructor for attorneys
  • Columnist for largest regional newspaper in San Diego County and professional journals for 15 years, Contributing author to the book “In Your Service: The Veteran’s Friend”
  • Masters Degree in Financial Services - Estate Planning
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